Gun control: Giffords tells Senate to do something

Thursday

Jan 31, 2013 at 12:01 AMJan 31, 2013 at 11:47 AM

WASHINGTON - Former congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, grievously wounded in a 2011 mass shooting, made an emotional plea yesterday for Congress to take action to curb gun violence, but a National Rifle Association executive said gun laws "have failed in the past and they'll fail again."

WASHINGTON — Former congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, grievously wounded in a 2011 mass shooting, made an emotional plea yesterday for Congress to take action to curb gun violence, but a National Rifle Association executive said gun laws “have failed in the past and they’ll fail again."

Speaking haltingly, Giffords implored lawmakers to “be bold, be courageous” as she opened testimony at the first congressional hearing on gun violence since the Dec. 14 massacre in which a gunman shot dead 20 children and six adults at an elementary school in Newtown, Conn.

Responding to outrage across the country after that incident, President Barack Obama and other Democrats have asked Congress to pass the largest package of gun restrictions in decades.

“Speaking is difficult. But I need to say something important,” Giffords, who survived a head wound in an assassination attempt in Tucson, Ariz., in which six people were killed and 13 others wounded, told the Senate Judiciary Committee.

“Violence is a big problem. Too many children are dying — too many children. We must do something. It will be hard, but the time is now,” said Giffords, who was accompanied by her husband, former astronaut Mark Kelly. “You must act. Be bold, be courageous. Americans are counting on you.”

Obama’s proposals to curb gun violence include reinstating the ban on military-style assault weapons, limiting the capacity of ammunition magazines and expanding background checks of prospective gun buyers, largely to verify whether they have a history of crime or mental illness.

Witnesses and lawmakers at the hearing agreed on the constitutional right to own guns but clashed over Obama’s proposals, particularly the call for universal background checks for all gun buyers. That is seen as the restriction most likely to gain bipartisan support in Congress.

Wayne LaPierre, executive vice president and CEO of the National Rifle Association, gave no ground during the hearing and dismissed Obama’s plan to close loopholes in the background-check law.

“Let’s be honest, background checks will never be universal because criminals will never submit to them,” LaPierre said.

Federally licensed firearms dealers are required to run background checks for criminal records on gun buyers. But the government estimates that

40 percent of purchasers avoid screening by obtaining their guns from private sellers, including those at gun shows.

Kelly, whose wife retired as a Democratic member of the House of Representatives while recovering from her wounds, said tightening background checks for all gun buyers would be one of the most-important ways to prevent guns from falling into the hands of criminals or the mentally ill.

“I mean, I can’t think of something that would make our country safer than doing just that,” Kelly testified.

After the hearing, Giffords and Kelly met privately with Obama at the White House.

At the hearing, LaPierre said the proposals would not reduce gun violence and called for more active prosecution of current laws and improved protection for schools, including armed guards.

“Law-abiding gun owners will not accept blame for the acts of violent or deranged criminals,” LaPierre said. “We need to be honest about what works and what does not work. Proposals that would only serve to burden the law-abiding have failed in the past, and they’ll fail again.”

Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill,, sharply challenged LaPierre, saying the city of Chicago in his home state is “awash in guns.” He cited the murder there on Tuesday of a 15-year-old girl who was an honor student and majorette and had marched in Obama’s inaugural parade.

“Just a matter of days after the happiest day of her life she’s gone,” Durbin said. “We have guns everywhere, and some believe the solution to this is more guns. I disagree.”

LaPierre and some Republicans on the panel said there has been a decline in the prosecution of gun laws since Obama took office in 2009. “It’s a disgrace,” he said.

Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy, a Vermont Democrat, said the panel hopes to finish its work on gun-control legislation by late February and send it to the Senate floor.

Kelly, who along with Giffords recently founded Americans for Responsible Solutions, a group intended to combat gun violence, said the couple is in favor of gun ownership but against gun violence. “When dangerous people get dangerous guns, we are all the more vulnerable,” he said.

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